For the 16th time, Russellville Junior High Eastside and Westside volleyball will host the Whirlwind Invitational volleyball tournament. Sixteen teams will participate in four pools with games being played at Whirlwind Gymnasium and Cyclone Gym on Saturday. Games begin at 9 a.m.

“I think we’ll come through pool play pretty well,” Eastside Head Coach Cindy Williams said. “The strong teams are divided up, so the tournament is where it’s going to get heated up. Out of the 16 teams in the tournament, we’ve seen six of them.”

“I’m really excited,” first-year Westside Head Coach Jonny Neely added. “From what I hear, we’re going to be going up against some pretty good teams.”

The West Lady Whirlwinds (6-1) are in Pool A with Lake Hamilton, Cabot South and Alma. Eastside (7-0) is in Pool B with conference foe Greenbrier, Cabot North and Van Buren Coleman. Pool C consists of Vilonia, Conway Blue, Mount Saint Mary’s and Van Buren Butterfield. Pool D is Conway White, Darby, Clarksville and Morrilton.

Eastside is coming off a sluggish performance in which Williams said her team wasn’t playing to their potential, but the coach said her squad is back on track.

“I think we worked through a small problem, had a great practice and are ready to play great again,” she said. “It’s just such a strong group, a talented group. We have great hitters, setters and defenders, so we have no excuse to not play together and be great.”

Neely said the tournament will be a chance to prepare his team for conference play. Win or lose, he said the most important thing his girls can do is learn from this experience.

“Honestly, I’ve told the girls over and over, this isn’t last year and it’s going to be tougher,” he said. “Our main goal is to win conference. If we come out of this tournament better prepared for conference, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. Perfection’s not what we need right now; we just need to get ready for conference.”

Start times for both Eastside and Westside’s pool play game are at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon.